Honest to Pete, if the law isn’t a full-time ass, from time to time it certainly takes up residence at that end of the beast.

Consider Elva Bottineau’s appeal to be heard at the Ontario coroner’s inquest now examining the death of the very same little boy she killed.

This prospect first raised its ugly head late last month when Bottineau’s plea on an inmate request form from the federal prison she now calls home “To put the thruth [truth] out there!” was revealed, but hopes the issue had gone away were premature.

A lawyer presenting her application has argued Bottineau — as Jeffrey’s caregiver and relative — has unique insights that could help the jury make its recommendations.

But the request was strongly opposed by lawyers representing the boy’s surviving siblings and the office of Ontario’s advocate for children and youth.

They said allowing her to take part in the proceedings would grant her a soapbox to defend her actions and revisit her conviction.

Bottineau and her partner Norman Kidman are serving life sentences for second-degree murder in the case.

The inquest has heard that both had a history of child abuse, including separate convictions and various dealings with the children’s aid society, something children’s aid workers only discovered after Jeffrey’s death.

Jeffrey was so severely starved at the end of his life that he couldn’t lift his own head.

The Toronto Police Service is set to make its own application for standing Wednesday.